Statesman: Nichols Takes Blue Mind to Austin

Wallace J. Nichols takes his 'Blue Mind' approach to Lake Austin Spa

To feel better, get on, in or near the water

If you’ve ever cannonballed into a lake on a day so sizzling you need oven mitts to handle your car’s steering wheel, you know the pure bliss that water brings.

It cools, comforts and eases what research scientist and marine ecologist Wallace J. Nichols calls “red mind,” that frazzled, hamster-on-a-wheel feeling of day-to-day life, with a soothing splash of blue.

Dedicated lap swimmers know this innately. So do passionate surfers, paddlers, scuba divers and fishermen. Something about getting in, on or near water makes us feel like Mother Nature has wrapped her arms protectively around us, and it feels good.